Dutch Court Throws Out Kazaa Case

From Wired: The makers of Kazaa, the world's most popular computer file-sharing program, cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped on its free software, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled Friday. The decision upheld a 2002 appellate-court verdict in Amsterdam that dismissed a suit filed by Buma/Stemra, which protects the interests of the music industry. Buma/Stemra had demanded that Kazaa stop offering free downloads from its website, or face a daily fine of $124,000.
Kazaa said the ruling, the first by a national court dealing with the legality of file-sharing websites, affirms not just the legality of its software, but all file-sharing programs. "This victory sets the precedent about the legality of peer-to-peer technology across the European Union, and around the world," Kazaa founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis said in a statement distributed on the Internet. They called the ruling a "historic victory for the evolution of the Internet and for consumers."